“I come to ask your advice,” I answered, “on a very strange thing. Two Protestant thieves have in their hands a great quantity of the silverware stolen, these last three years. They want to deposit them in my hands, that I may give them back to those from whom they have been stolen, before they leave the country and lead a better life. I cannot know them, for they both wear masks. I cannot even know where they take me, for the carriage is so completely wrapped up by curtains that it is impossible to see outside. Now, my dear Mr. Demars, I come to ask your advice. Shall I go with them or not? But remember that I trust you with these things under the seal of confession, that neither you nor I may be compromised.”
Before answering me, the venerable priest said: “I am very old, but I have never heard of such a strange thing in my life. Are you not afraid to go alone with these two thieves in that covered carriage?”
“No, sir,” I answered; “I do not see any reason to fear anything from these two men.”
“Well! well,” rejoined Mr. Demars, “if you are not afraid under such circumstances, your mother has given you a brain of diamond and nerve of steel.”
“Now, my dear sir,” I answered, “time flies, and I may have a long way to travel with these two men. Please, in the shortest possible way, tell me your mind? Do you advise me to go with them?”
He replied, “You consult me on a very difficult matter; there are so many considerations to make, that it is impossible to weigh them all. The only thing we have to do is to pray God and His Holy Mother for wisdom—Let us pray.”
We knelt and said the “Veni Sancte Spiritus;” “Come Holy Spirit,” etc., which prayer ends by an invocation to Mary as Mother of God.
After the prayer Mr. Demars again asked me: “Are you not afraid?”
“No, sir, I do not see any reason to be afraid. But, please, for God’s sake hurry on, tell me if you advise me to go and accept this message of mercy and peace.”
“Yes! go! go! if you are not afraid,” answered the old priest, with a voice full of emotion, and tears in his eyes.